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Reminders of harder times

 Yesterday I looked out of my window and 


Brian Stokes Mitchell sang "The Impossible Dream" from the Juliette balcony on the right most nights during the 7:00pm cheer

saw this scaffolding going up. All of you who live in New York know exactly what this is.  In 1979 a Columbia student was killed by a piece of  loose masonry hat fell from a building in the neighborhood. Since then, every five years every residential building in the city is inspected and every bit of masonry that might be a danger in the future is repaired.

This law has had a couple of consequences. The first is that it has kept all of us safer. Another is that the law has been a boondoggle for  scaffolding companies, construction engineers and contractors.

The scaffolding keeps the workers safe


and also keeps pedestrians safe from falling rubble.

As an additional safety measure


after the scaffolding goes up a layer of screening covers the outside of the scaffolding. Being inside the the scaffolding and screening


is somewhat depressing.



Our building was covered in scaffolding during COVID. We were, all of us indoors and isolated. 



Seeing the scaffolding going up across the street brings up so many memories of the terrifying time of COVID. And it is the 25th anniversary of 9/11. And it is nearly October 7. So all of those memories of hard times are very much on my mind. One can't help but revisit those difficult times.


And now a completely different topic.

Tuesday we closed up the little cabin we rented by a lake this summer. Please read that as: completely packing up the cabin, scrubbing every surface so we could return it sparkling to our lovely landlord. Packing up a car with all of the food and STUFF from the cabin. Unpacking all of it in our apartment. Washing everything that we brought home because lake living is a little bit dank and musty. Packing all of the food from the country into our still packed from Rosh Hashanah fridge and freezer and pantry. It has been a whole lot of stuff. We are slowly Un-Collyer Brothers our apartment.


However a lovely moment from the lake when I took a little break from cleaning.


This is just two of a flock of turkeys that was strolling near the lake.


And a household hint:

Musty pillows can be refreshed (destinkified and fluffed) by putting them in a dryer with a damp towel while on a low setting. This also works for down quilts.

The laundry pile is smaller. The fridge is no longer looking like Fibber McGee's closet and we get ready for Yom Kippur.


And just a reminder to people or bots wanting to post comments. I am delighted to post comments from actual human readers. I will not post comments that are actually random advertisements. I am talking to you nursing schools in Pakistan, and exterminators from Dubai and digital embroidery companies. Even if you post comments on dozens of posts in a day, if your comment is an ad or a link to your business I am not posting it. 

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